


A Reunion of Souls

by ABookishSortOfLover (qwerty28274)



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Little bit of angst, Reunion Fic, a bunch more fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-07
Updated: 2016-08-07
Packaged: 2018-08-07 05:41:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7702777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/qwerty28274/pseuds/ABookishSortOfLover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A misunderstanding led to the mistake of a lifetime. Can things be mended if things are explained?</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Reunion of Souls

"Ella- Ella! Hey!" Neal caught the girl by the arm, preventing her from storming past him,

She turned on him, blue eyes blazing with barely constrained fury. "What, Neal? What the hell do you want?!"

His jaw tensed. "Are you going to be like this the entire time you're here?"

"Be like what?! A rational person?! There was a reason I ended our relationship, Neal!"

"Yeah, what was that reason again? I don't recall receiving an explanation, and if I remember correctly, you were fine with our relationship until five days before you ended it!"

"Ohhhhhh no, you are so not pinning this on me, Neal O'Bryen! I was done with our relationship for months before I saw sense. I hadn't seen you in a damn month, Neal! And I know you were cheating. Must I spell it out for you?" tears sprang to her eyes. She'd been hoping to avoid this conversation.

The anger left those golden-brown eyes, and the fight left his stance. "Cheating?" he whispered. "Who told you-"

"I saw you myself, dumbass!"

"What?"

"June twenty-eighth, one week before I ended everything, I texted you and asked if you wanted to see a movie with me. I was desperate. Desperate for a call, a text, anything! I hadn't heard so much as a 'hello' from you in nigh on a month. I didn't want it to be over, so I asked you to a movie. One. Little. Movie. My last chance at a plea bargain before the gavel struck down. And what was your response?! 'I'm not in the mood.' So I decided, fine. I would go see it myself. I tried to reconcile your behaviour to myself. Tried to convinced myself you weren't with someone else; that you were faithful! But when I entered the theatre, there you were. You and some Ginger bi-... girl. I walked up, thinking maybe she was a relative and you would introduce us. Then I heard you. 'How about this one, babe?' The exact movie I'd invited you to come see with me. So I ignored you, got my ticket, saw my movie. I decided then and there that we were over, I just needed to figure out the cruelest way to phrase it. So, Neal, I hope you're happy, because you've officially ruined my life." she wrenched her arm away and ran, ignoring his pleas for her to stop as well as the tears streaming down her face. She ran; mindless of where her feet carried her. She ran; vision blurred by tears, chest heaving, her body wracked by sobs. She ran. She ran until her legs were aching, she ran until her feet were sore, she ran 'til she was out of breath, she ran 'til she could run no more. When she stopped running, she found herself outside in the woods near the house. She took a deep breath and climbed the nearest tree.

Ella must have fallen asleep in the tree branches, because the next thing she knew, someone was crawling up to sit beside her. She tensed, ready to fight, when she heard,

"Don't worry, I'm not Neal."

Ella blew out a breath and relaxed against the tree, rubbing sleep out of her eyes.

"What did he do?" Kristin asked.

"Asked some stupid questions. I got pissed, and... Flew too close to the sun."

Kristin nodded. They sat in silence for a while, and Ella realised she could hear Neal and Will arguing below.

"I don't care, O'Bryen!" Will shouted. "You don't just let a girl like that go!"

Ella blushed.

"I didn't 'just let her go', Will! She ran and didn't look back! She changed her number, blocked me on every social media account she had- I couldn't have seen her again if I'd tried!"

"Did you try?"

"Of course I did! Ella meant the world to me- still does! I wasn't about to let that go. But she wouldn't see me. I tried her work, her dorm, her parent's place... Will, I don't know what to do."

"You have to talk to her, man."

"I'VE TRIED!"

Ella shuddered at those two roared words. Neal's voice held anger, sadness, regret.

"Don't you think I've tried?" he said quieter.

Will sighed and clapped him on the back, walking back toward the house.

Neal looked up sullenly at the tree the girls sat in and laid a hand on the trunk, wishing Ella would just talk to him.

He looked to the ground as Kristin peeked down, and didn't look up until Kristin jumped down next to him.

"Get up there. Talk to her."

"Kris-"

"Go, O'Bryen. I wanna see a smile back on your faces before you come down."

Neal looked up hesitantly.

"She's waiting. Go get 'em, tiger."

Neal took a deep breath, then began ascending the tree.

"Hey." he said upon reaching the spot where she sat. It was a little cupped platform created by the tree branches.

"Hey yourself."

"Look, I know I can't make amends for what I did, but can I at least explain? I promise, you can hate me all you want after that and I won't argue."

Ella nodded slightly and drew her legs in close to her body.

"Okay. Well... That month, I... Was in a play. I wanted it to be a surprise, so... I didn't tell you. The girl I was with that day, her name was Elizabeth Towne. She played the character my character fell for and we went to that movie as an exercise our director asked us to do. I had told her beforehand that I was in a relationship, and she respected the boundaries I'd set, even though we were in character. We did nothing more than hold hands, and I hugged her goodbye at the end of the 'date'. Baby-"

"Don't."

"Ella. I picked that movie because all I could think of was you. I felt awful, and I wanted to call you, but I couldn't. While in all reality I wasn't cheating, I felt as though I was, and the thought made feel sick. If I hadn't needed to stay in character, I would have apologised to Elizabeth and left. The next time we spoke was when I called to invite you to the play, and you broke up with me. So Elizabeth and I changed the gameplan. I was mad, I was hurt, so anything went. It messed me up so bad, Ella. After we were done with the play, I started drinking. Not heavily, but enough for me to have several scares. I'd finally moved on, cleaned up my act, got a life. Everything was looking up. Then Will tells me he wants me here to meet someone. So I come. And who should pull in the driveway but Kristin and little miss 'Hellbent' herself. I swear, I thought I was dreaming. I had thought you would be better off than I was, but I guess you weren't. Ella, I-" he knelt down in front of her, tears stinging his eyes. "Please believe me." he whispered. "After seeing you again... I can't lose you. Not again. And I know, I know, I don't exactly have you right now, but-" he grabbed her and kissed her. /Hard/.

Ella's eyes flew open in shock, then fluttered shut again as she melted into the kiss. It was so familiar, yet so foreign, and when they parted, she wasn't ready to let it go.

"I'm sorry." Neal whispered, pulling back. "I had to do that at least once more." then he backed away and descended the tree.

"Neal!" Ella called when she realised what was happening. "No, Neal, wait!" she rushed to the edge of the small platform and dropped to her knees, peering down. She saw Neal standing below, shoulders tensed, turned away from the tree. She quickly scrambled down after him, laying a tentative hand on his shoulder.

Neal flinched slightly away from the hand, and Ella winced.

"Neal.. I- I'm sorry. I just- I was hurt, I was angry, I acted without thinking. I am so, so sorry."

He rounded on her, eyes swimming. "It wasn't completely your fault. I- I should've told you. Shouldn't've-"

"No, no, Neal." she quickly pulled him into a hug. "It was a sweet gesture, really. I just- I believe you, I do. Oh, Neal. Could you ever forgive me?"

"Forgive you? Darling, you did nothing wrong."

"Yes, I did. Rather than asking you to explain, taking the problem to you; I broke us up, breaking our hearts in the process. I've always known I was insecure, I guess this just proves it. Rather than waiting for you to break up with me, reject and throw me to the side like everyone else, I broke up with you. Please, please forgive me."

"Ella, you were forgiven long ago. But, if it makes you feel better, Ella Denise Havelock, I forgive you. For this, past, and all future mistakes."

She choked out a laugh, tears slipping down her cheeks.

Neal brought up a hand to wipe the tears away, and she closed her eyes and leaned into the touch, prompting him to kiss her, which he did. Once on each eyelid and once on the tip of her nose before he reached her mouth. He slowly leaned in and pressed a chaste kiss to her lips, and she melted into it once again, savouring in the feel of well-known lips against her own.

Ella tilted her head to deepen the kiss, and Neal obliged, tilting his head, his lips moving against hers. Ella's lips parted, prompting Neal's to, and for a bit they just stood there, breathing the same air.

"I missed you." Ella murmured against Neal's lips, the three words she wanted to say getting caught in her throat.

"I love you too." Neal whispered back. He pulled her into another tight hug, pressing a kiss to her temple.

Her arms wrapped around him, and squeezed as if she would never let go, burying her face in the crook of his neck, partially worried if she let go, this would all be a dream.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!! If you liked it, please fuel my zombie writer brain with kudos and comments!
> 
> If you wanna talk about fandom things (or anything, really) come give me a nudge on my Tumblr! It's thatwritxrgirl


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